Hallo Everyone!
I hope you´re doing well. If there are any tzpos in this e-mail, it´s most likely because on this keyboard the z is in the y postition and vice versa.
I last e-mailed when I was in Athens, I believe. While there, I stayed at the Athens International Youth Hostel. It was a reasonably nice place. It´s a Hostelling International Hostel, so it was clean and secure. But it was cheap costing me about US$ 4.00 per night!!! Probably the only drawback was the location. It was central but it wasn´t in the nicest area of town, so if I went out at night it was in a group. I spent one day at the Acropolis, which was really neat. Got to take lots of pictures of the Parthenon and other places. It was interesting, especially to see all the white marble. Athens was especially interesting because I guess there´s so much of it there, it´s used everywhere, like BC uses wood. It lined the sidewalks in all areas of the town, not just the expensive areas (which I didn´t visit to verify that it´s there…).
By the time I got to Athens, I´d been doing touristy stuff for about 2 weeks, so I decided it was time for a break. I spent my time in Athens with two girls from North Carolina, Rachael and Rayann. They were great fun, and we had tonnes of things in common, it was sad that we couldn´t travel together longer. But, we did go to Aegina, one of the islands. None of us are very good at going and sitting on a beach for long periods of time, so we only went for a day (Aegina is 1hr away bz ferrz from Athens). It was sooo nice to relax and read and not move (even though we did have to walk 5k each way to get to the beach from the port). The water was clear blue, and the beach was very sandy. It was gorgeous and hot, and I managed to sunburn myself rather well, even with sunblock on(Spray on sunblock is less than useless, my sunburn is horribly blotchy)! Oh well, it´s almost gone.
One of the reasons I spend little time sunbathing…
After Aegina, we all went out to dinner. That was an interesting experience. First, the owners of the restaurants really try hard to get you to come to their place (we even got a tour of the kitchen where we wound up eating). Then we tried to order, which didn´t matter because the waiter brought us what he felt like anyhow. Two girls ordered Greek Salad, so he brought one for each of us. Same with the Tzaziki (I have no idea how to properly spell that!). We sent the extras back. I ordered Lamb for my main course, but since they didn´t have that, the waiter brought me something else (much more expensive). So, I sent that back and reordered. Things went smoothly from there until the bill came. The Waiter had charged us for everything he´d brought out! So, we grabbed a menu and figured out what we owed him and re-wrote the bill. He was fine with that, and was really cheerful throughout the whole thing. We were expecting a fight, but he really didn’t seem to care what we paid.
The last part of my week in Greece was spent in Thessaloniki. (One of my goals on this trip was to visit it.). Wednesday was spent traveling there (my friend Matt came with me, since we met up in Athens). We visited the Archaeological museum, which was really neat because the city is so old. Also saw the Rotunda which was originally a mausoleum (sp?) but was converted to a church.
Thessaloniki was a gorgeous city, I liked it much more than Athens. The streets were wide, with wide sidewalks and trees lined the streets. There were garbage cans every 20 meters, and it was on the water with a great walking area along it. If anyone comes to Greece, I really would suggest the trip up to Thessaloniki. It´s off the beaten path, but that makes it even better!
Friday morning I flew out of Athens to Munich (really cheap flight). Munich is a very fun city, I have felt much safer here than in either Italy or Greece. I stayed at a hotel that also functions as a hostel. It was close to the center of the city and right by the hauptbahnof. Munich as you might know is known for its beer gardens.  So, Friday night Lori, Amy and I (two girls I met at the hostel) went to a beer garden for dinner. I got to try the traditional sausages that Bavaria is also known for, and Weiss Beer (wheat beer, unfiltered so it´s really opaque – one of the few beers I´ve ever liked). After dinner we went to the Hauftbrauhaus – the infamous beer garden of Munich. It was a hilarious place that really did remind me of an American Frat house Party. The band was really good, and I´ve never met anyone who can drink as much as these Bavarian guys. During the time we were sharing a table they drank 3 liters (the beer is served bz the liter there, and it´s at least as strong as Canadian beer). I didn´t have any, but the girls I was with did, and they really felt it the next day…
Yesterday I took a tour to Dachau, the first concentration camp built (and the model for all the others). It was interesting, and very well done with a lot of sensitivity. I´m glad it wasn´t a death camp, but the tortures and horrors of this place made me really question if humankind is civilized. That anyone could and would do what they did. That being said, many thousands did survive, and I admire their strength. After getting back from Dachau, I decided to join a bike tour that´s pretty popular. I´m glad I did because the tour guides were really funny and it helped put me into a more positive mood after the mornings visit. The bikes we had were these hilarious Schwinn Cruiser Sevens. I haven´t been on a bike like that since I was a kid. It was bright blue. It was a fun way to see the city, I´m glad I went. I found it was a bit Americanized though. I was the only non-American there!
After the bike tour, I went to do laundry, which is always amusing. It seems like no matter where I am, I always run into either italian or greek men who try to ask me out. Never any other nationality, and never any of the non slimy ones! (I´ve met non-slimy greek guys, but have yet to meet any non-slimy italian guys…I mean those from those countries, not anyone with that background…). It´s getting amusing. They´re always harmless, but I would really rather fold my laundry in peace! Today I let myself sleep in a bit, and then after packing (I´m off to Berlin tonight), I visited the Deutches Museum. This was a fun place that exhibited lots of science and technology stuff. The last thing I learned is how Bavarians toast each other, very frequently during their daily visits to beer gardens (which by the way, open at 9:30am daily). They clink their glasses (but only the bottom edges of the glasses or they break) and shout “PROST”, slam them down on the table, and take a drink. So, I leave you all this week with…
PROST!
Christina